December 23rd, 2015
Day 23: Dogfish Head Higher Math by Ben Watts
@lets_talk_beer @dogfishbeer
To celebrate the Holiday Season, we have teamed up with beer bloggers and craft beer enthusiasts around the country to host the fifth annual beer advent calendar. This is the season of sharing and we intend to share our love of beer with you.
During the 31 days of December, we will be sharing our favorite regional/winter seasonals/holiday beers with the help from our fellow beer enthusiasts. We hope that you tune in every day, to hear our stories and share our holiday cheer.
Dogfish Head Higher Math
Blogger: Ben Watts
Website: http://www.letstalk.beer
Twitter / Instagram: T: @lets_talk_beer IS: @bmwatts
About Me: One half of the roving beer trivia/game show “Let’s Talk Beer” and part-time co-host of the Seacoast Beverage Lab podcast
Beer: Higher Math
Brewery: Dogfish Head, Delaware
Website: http://www.dogfish.com
Twitter: @dogfishbeer
Commercial Description: Higher Math… celebrates 20 off-centered years of Dogfish Head. It’s a golden strong ale fermented with sour cherry juice and cocoa nibs and clocks in at 17% ABV. Higher Math has forward notes of cherries, pineapple and stewed fruit, with late notes of cocoa. It has a lingering sweetness and a notable warmth from the alcohol.
Beer Details:
-Style: Golden Ale
-ABV: 17%
-IBU:35
-Ingredients etc: sour cherry juice, cacao nibs
Why I selected the Dogfish Head Higher Math:
I wanted to try something a little off-format this year. Instead of choosing a traditional holiday beer, I thought I’d try something just released for the first time this season, and drink and write about it at the same time, so that you, dear reader, could experience it with me. And in this holiday time of excess when our caloric intake rivals that of a hippopotamus, why not go with something a little more forgiving? For that reason I’ve chosen DFH’s first entry into the session market, Higher Math, which clocks in at a paltry 1.7% ABV. Since the alcohol content is so low, I grabbed three bottles to drink for my review. Here goes!
7:01 PM – First bottle cracked and poured. Not a lot of carbonation. I wonder if it’s purposefully flat. Pours a translucent maroon; immediate wine and cherry aroma. In the first taste, the cocoa is immediately noticeable. Can’t wait to see how that changes as this warms.
7:11 PM – For a low ABV beer, this certainly has a bit of booziness to it. Strange. I bet this would pair well with something on the grill.
7:17 PM – Is it hot in here? My face is so warm.
7:24 PM – The chocolate notes are so much more evident now, but at the same time the cherry has subsided a little. It’s hard not to put this back like water, though, since it practically is!
7:26 PM – First bottle done, and I really really really liked it. I mean really, you guys! Hahahaha, woooo!
7:28 PM – My buddy Brian just texted and dared me to chug the second bottle. Challenge accepted, maaaannnnnn!. The old apple juice in my fridge is more alcoholic than this!
7:30 PM – Right down the hatch. IN YOUR FACE! It’s so sweet, sweet like a soda pop. Pop. What does that even mean, pop? P-O-P pop pop pop its fun to say. GOD it is hot in here!!
jh7:34 PM – I prolly should have eaten dinner first. SOmehow i am feeling this. I had rum raisin ice cream earlier…does that have alcohol? It must. I am FEELING THIS!!!!!
7:38 PM – I d onot feel good. I must be coming down with somehting. OK, last bottle. I’m going to finsh what i set out to do.
7:40 PM – I can’t tatse the chocol;ate anymore. I can’t tsate much of anything. I cant stop licking the back of my teeth. My heart feels like its beating through my chest. Im soo dizzy. I thin i need to lay down. I bettert finish this glass quick
7:44 PM – i hate pants why do weeven neeed to ahve patns sos tupidd
7:51 PM – .llkommmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmj.
11:29 AM – Wow. I have no idea what happened. Must have been a stomach bug or something…my head is still pounding! My apologies for the incomplete review, but otherwise I’d recommend grabbing a sixer of Higher Math to drink at your next holiday party. Cheers!
About Lets Talk Beer:
Let’s Talk Beer is a live beer-centric game show hosted by Ben Watts and Brian Aldrich of the Seacoast Beverage Lab.
About Dogfish Head Craft Brewed Ales:
Ever since the summer of 1995, we have been brewing, cooking, selling and talking everything beer. It’s our pasttime, our passion, our life. Since the beginning, we have always wanted to bring original beer, great food and local music to the Rehoboth Beach area.
After a couple of years, no matter what we did, we could not keep up with the demands of our beer, our food and our entertainment. We built a bigger and better brewhouse (in Rehoboth Beach, DE – on the Avenue) and that’s where Dogfish Head Brewings & Eats is housed! Yum!
With brewing, distributing, cooking, entertaining happening all in one building on the Avenue in Rehoboth, we eventually outgrew the brew house and moved the entire production brewery to Milton, Delaware. To keep things interesting and off-centered, we built a distillery in the upstairs of the Rehoboth Brewhouse so we could make vodka, rum and gin.
Visit the brewery online at http://www.dogfish.com/